‘Sorry sir, I don’t believe in shortcuts and relationships which are only for mutual benefit. I prefer to stay away from them,’ Deep said looking at Kajal.
‘Oh come on. Grow up. You should live life king size,’ Mr Verma yelled.
Kajal stared at Deep as she knew Mr Verma had dismissed their relationship as mere enjoyment and nothing else. It was like a slap on her face. He hardly cared for her and continued to eat his food. All this while, Tamanna kept looking secretly at Deep and his last statement made her nervous.
After dinner, they decided to spend some more time on the beach before boarding the cruise.
‘I am feeling unwell. I will rest in my hotel room for a while so that I can join you all on the cruise later. Otherwise I will feel uneasy on the cruise and will miss all the fun,’ Deep exclaimed when they cleared the bill and came out of Tito’s.
‘Are you sure? I don’t want you to miss the cruise Deep,’ Tamanna said visibly concerned. After all she had planned a special night on the cruise for him.
He nodded but Tamanna insisted he stay back with them and not to go back to the hotel. Her continuous pampering was getting on his nerves.
‘Don’t worry Tammy. I will reach on time. Trust me. We will spend some good time together,’ Deep told her in a sweet tone and gave her a seductive smile. Tammy told him to come on time.
Deep pretended that he was feeling uneasy due to the drinks he had consumed and left for the day. He ordered couple more bottles of beer in the room after taking a bath. He checked his mobile and saw 11 missed calls from Tammy. He wasn’t shocked as it was quite typical of her. He ignored them and switched off his cell phone so that he could drink chilled beer sitting in the balcony of his room and enjoy Goa’s weather.
After some drinks, he closed his eyes thinking about what would be the aftereffects of his decision to cancel the cruise plan. Even he wanted to talk about his life with Tamanna in all seriousness, but he felt that the cruise was not the right pace to do so. Goa was the right opportunity to tell Tamanna how he really felt but he never got a chance to be alone with Tammy anywhere. Thinking about the various probabilities, he dozed off on the chair in the balcony itself.
Meanwhile, the others were waiting for Deep to return so that they could board the cruise together.
Tamanna tried calling Deep a number of times but his phone was switched off. She was worried about him and cursed herself for allowing him to go back to the room.
‘His cell is switched off. Should we go back to the room and check?’ Tamanna asked Mr Verma.
‘Leave it. He may not be feeling well. If we check on him now, we will miss our cruise,’ Mr Verma said advising the girls to board the cruise.
Tamanna started walking towards the cruise with a heavy heart. She turned to look back every few seconds, hoping she would spot Deep running towards her. However, with each step she took, her dream seemed to evaporate in thin air. Deep was nowhere to be seen. Tamanna wanted to cry aloud as all her plans had shattered in a fraction of a second.
‘Don’t worry Tammy. I will reach on time. Trust me. We will spend some good quality time together.’ His mesmerizing voice still reverberated in her head. A tear tolled down her eye and she couldn’t believe it was for real. She was all alone in the midst of a crowd that seemed to be enjoying each other’s company.
Kajal and Mr Verma were making the most of their time on the cruise. She looked gorgeous in her black one-piece dress and Mr Verma looked totally smitten by her as they danced to Goan music. Kajal had managed to fulfil her motive behind the Goa trip and even Mr Verma had not been left disappointed. However, for Tamanna the love game had now suddenly changed into an obsession. She had to achieve her love at any cost now. The intensity of Kajal and Mr Verma’s love made her obsess more deeply about Deep. The night passed thinking about him but Tamanna decided to keep mum and not to react to Deep’s betrayal.
The next morning when they left for the airport, Deep tried to talk to Tammy several times, but she kept ignoring him as his behaviour had made her even more upset. She tried to make him feel guilty for the previous night by avoiding him completely. Deep tried to convince her and explain the reason for his absence, but his half-hearted attempts failed to impress Tamanna. On the other hand, Kajal and Mr Verma had a satisfied look on their faces while returning back to Mumbai.
The Goa trip had ended on an ugly note for Deep and Tamanna and created rifts between them. Deep failed to share with her what was going on in his head. However it was getting difficult for Tamanna to ignore the feelings she had for Deep. The question was: How far would this obsession of hers take her?
Kisses and Misses
January 6
It was winter time. Aleesha decided to go out for a walk since Kritika was not in and room and she was feeling bored. She tried to call both Akash and Kritika but since neither of them picked up the phone, she went ahead by hereself. She walked towards the CCD outlet near her residence and decided to stop for a short coffee break. As she walked towards the outlet, she stopped short in her tracks. She turned around to see if someone was following her but there was no one to be seen. She ignored the weird vibe but somehow felt that something was not quite right. She started walking again. Once she entered CCD, she placed her order and took a seat at one of the vacant tables. One seated, she suddenly heard a familiar voice.
‘You are amazing. I love the way you do things for me at odd hours, especially during the night,’ said the voice.
With baby steps, she moved towards the cubicle in the corner of the café, meant for couples only.
‘I love you so much for this. Thank you for accepting my proposal. You are the best,’ said the same voice. This time Aleesha shivered.
As she went closer, she couldn’t believe what she saw. If her heart was weak, she would have got a heart attack right there itself. Akash and Kritika were sitting at the table holding each other’s hands.
Her body froze in shock and her mind tried to comprehend it all as the time ticked off on the clock. Her body began to tremble. Not once did she expect this to happen. Never in her wildest dreams would she have thought about being a witness to this. With a heavy heart and even heavier steps, she went closer to Akash who was equally shocked to see her. He didn’t know how to react. He panicked and left Kritika’s hands in a hurry, stammering to explain.
‘How dare you? I mean how could you cheat on me and sit here with my friend? Akash I trusted you so much,’ Alisha yelled.
She walked out of the cafe. In a flash, Akash ran behind her trying to make her understand the situation. But she did not have time for him and ran away sobbing.
Akash couldn’t believe his luck. He stood there without moving an inch. All of a sudden all his plans and all the surprises had been shattered. Kritika came out running and inquired about Aleesha.
‘Please explain to her that we didn’t do anything wrong. I beg of you,’ Akash pleaded with Kritika almost in tears.
Kritika just nodded and left. As she reached their room, she saw Aleesha sobbing on the bed. She was reading the message that Akash had sent to her after they made love for the first time. She saw Kritika coming in but pretended to ignore her. Kritika came near her bed and sat beside her. Aleesha moved away from her saying she didn’t want any clarification.
‘Aleesha, please listen to me once. Whatever you saw was not the real picture. You know how much he loves you,’ Kritika explained.
‘I don’t want any clarification. I shouldn’t have trusted him. All boys are the same. They just want their desires fulfilled and nothing else. He has done it with me and moved on to the next girl. Tomorrow it will be someone else,’ she said. She hardly listened to Kritika and kept yelling at her without bothering to even listen to any explanations.
She felt cheated. That’s probably the most terrible thing. She thought of calling him but then decided to leave a message. She typed out a long message and was about to send it when she felt it was of no use. She deleted the message and th
rew the cell on the bed.
Lost in darkness, she kept thinking to herself—Did he actually love me? I thought he had the same feelings and would protect me in the storm of life. It must be his charm that melted my heart or was it his gentle smile? But whatever it might be, one thing I know is that he does not feel the same for me anymore. Tears kept rolling down her face. The reality of it broke her into pieces and it wounded her badly when she realized that Akash wanted to be with someone else. She couldn’t believe that he could just move on without thinking about her feelings when he knew that she had done everything for him—supported him, comforted him, and loved him more than he loved himself. Then why did he choose to be unfaithful to her and hurt her like this?
It was around 11 pm. Kritika simply sat beside her silently. She didn’t take much effort in explaining things to Aleesha. She had kept her fingers crossed as there were already too many misunderstandings and one mistake could brak Aleesha’s trust completely.
Akash on the other hand didn’t even bother calling up Aleesha up after his initial efforts to convince her failed. This frustrated Aleesha even more. Akash believed that the surprise he had planned for her would make her fall in love with him all over again. He waited for Kritika’s instructions and was inquiring about Aleesha every few minutes.
Aleesha covered herself with a blanket but her tears didn’t allow her to sleep. Kritika checked the time again. It was 11.45 pm and all the lights were switched off. Kritika called up Akash and gave him the go-ahead to enter their room. Aleesha could hear her whispering on the phone and she pulled the pillow over her head and covered her ears tightly with it.
Akash was inside the room the very next second. I followed him and latched the door. Aleesha saw us from under the blanket and couldn’t control her temper. She picked up her bedsheet and threw it on Akash. It just fell short of landing on Akash’s head. She started shouting on the top of her voice. We thought we would be caught, as someone would knock the door hearing Aleesha screaming so loudly. Kritika held her mouth shut and Akash took out red roses from his backpack. There were twelve roses in all tied into a bunch with a satin ribbon. He moved forward and offered the flowers to her. She was still angry at him and that was evident from the way she turned her face away wiping away tears from her face.
‘What do you want now? You must have brought these for her, but seeing me, you are offering them to me?’ Aleesha screamed.
I moved closer to Aleesha, held her by her arm, and made her sit down explaining everything to her. Akash was still standing while I convinced her and made her understand every minute detail of the incident. Akash had said I love you to Kritika for all the help she was offering for making the day special for Aleesha and him. They had no bad intentions whatsoever. They held each other’s hand only for a fraction of a second, and that too because Akash was grateful for Kritika’s help. It was only bad timing that Aleesha bumped into them at the same minute.
‘Are you serious?’ she asked me.
‘Yes dear. Why should I lie to you? Trust me. It was just because he had planned something special for you today as you both complete six months of your relationship. At least smile now. It’s not their fault. You simply misconstrued what had happened,’ I said patting her back to make her smile.
Akash felt relieved when he saw Aleesha smile. He went down on his knees and presented the rose bouquet to her.
‘I love you Minnie,’ Akash said with a big smile.
Aleesha wiped away her tears and tried to smile when she said, ‘I love you too.’
Akash got up and hugged her tightly after which Aleesha melted in his arms. She started crying like a kid and apologized for doubting his intentions and not trusting him. Akash kissed her earlobes and gave her a warm kiss on her forehead. Aleesha pulled her ears to apologize.
‘You look cute when you cry and smile at the same time. I love you. Can you guess why I gave you twelve roses?’ Akash questioned.
‘Why Mickey?’
‘Twelve roses are for our six months of togetherness. We completed six months happily and thus six roses…’ Akash was about to continue but Aleesha interrupted.
‘Then why twelve?’
‘My jaan, six roses for making the last six months beautiful and six in advance because I believe we will complete a year in love too. Thus twelve roses complete the both of us,’ Akash smiled.
They both hugged. The next moment their lips met, and their tongues explored each other’s mouth. They were so lost in their kiss that they forgot that Kritika and I were standing right next to them. In the meanwhile, Kritika and I brought out the cake Akash had got along with him and kept it on the table.
‘Guys, here is it. It’s your time, let’s celebrate it today,’ Kritika said while I lit the candles.
‘Wow. It’s lovely. Akash, you are such a darling. You brought a Minnie and Mickey Mouse cake. So cute! Let me click a picture, ’ Aleesha said taking a picture with her mobile phone and immediately uploaded it on her BBM.
‘Make a wish and then blow off the candles in one go,’ I instructed.
They looked at each other and then closed their eyes in order to make a wish. I believe that a silent wish should be made before blowing out the candles. If all the candles are put off in one breath, the wish will come true. They made a secret wish and then excitedly blew out all the candles in one go. While they were feeding each other small bits of the cake, it seemed the smoke from the candles carried their wishes and prayers to the almighty.
Real entertainment came in after cutting the two-tier cake. Aleesha decided to shove her piece of cake onto Akash’s face.
‘Ah!’
Kritika and I turned around to see Akash’s face covered in chocolate and whipped cream. I waited to see Akash’s reaction. He stood there with cake dripping down his T-shirt and Aleesha laughing uncontrollably. She took another piece of cake and swung it at Akash but he ducked and it hit Kritika instead.
‘Oh gosh! I am so sorry,’ Aleesha said.
Kritika immediately picked up a huge chunk and threw it on Aleesha but she ducked too and it came straight on my face. I grabbed the biggest piece I could get hold of and shoved it on Aleesha. She couldn’t move and it her on her shoulders and face.
Aleesha stood atop a table and clearing her throat shouted, ‘Cake Fight!’
At that moment, everyone started throwing cake pieces on each other. I went towards the stereo player and inserted a music CD to make the mood even more lively when I saw a piece zooming towards me. I ducked and it hit the wall this time. Everywhere Aleesha turned, she was hit with the cake. Her long hair was covered with white and pink cream, and chocolate.
‘Stop throwing at me now,’ she requested but Akash hit her on the chest and the cream went down her top.
‘Aah! I AM SERIOUS,’ she shouted wiping the cake sliding down under her top.
Kritika was approaching the cake fight differently. Every time the cake came her way, she caught it with her hand and ate it.
‘This is crazy! We were supposed to be celebrating our six months anniversary and not wasting such a yummy ice-cream cake. I am putting an end to this,’ Aleesha shouted peeping from under the bed.
‘Stop this madness right now,’ she continued but she was attacked with cake again. ‘Ahhh!’ She hid under the bed again, wiping the cake off her top.
Eventually the music stopped and everything came to a halt. However, I wondered how the girls would clean up the mess. It was going to be a tough task for them.
Akash went closer to Aleesha and hugged her as we were about to leave. He licked the cream off her face with his tongue and ate it.
‘You know what tastes better than the cake on your face?’ Akash questioned.
‘What?’
‘Your lips.’ He pulled her towards him and kissed her passionately.
After cleaning up, we slowly moved out of the room under Kritika’s guidance. As we sat in the car, Akash messaged Aleesha about another surprise.
Minnie,
I hope you enjoyed my little surprise. I just wanted to shock you and make you feel special. I do care for you and will be there for you always. Never ever think that I will cheat on you or go out with someone else. You get hyper easily and overreact. Please stop assuming things and don’t jump to conclusions without knowing the actual facts. It could harm our relationship in the future. Don’t react to things so easily my jaan. I love you a lot and I am all yours. There is one more surprise waiting for you. I have kept a bag under your bed which has a gift for you. Tomorrow neither of us are going to office and college. I have taken a leave. We are going to spend time together recollecting the memories of our last six months. Once you see the gift I have kept in the bag, do message me. I am waiting.
Aleesha took out the bag kept hidden under her bed and removed a note and a gift-wrapped box from it.
The note said: Do wear it tomorrow. You will look no less than a princess in this.
She opened the bag to see a rich white chikan work Anarkali salwar kameez. The maroon churidar looked lovely while the white dupatta was in net with a ravishing red velvet border. She was on cloud nine and couldn’t resist trying it. She immediately changed into her new outfit and looked in the mirror and blushed. She told Kritika to click some snaps of her on her BlackBerry and send it to Akash immediately. Aleesha was extremely happy and retired to bed with a smile on her face. Just before dozing off, she messaged him:
Can’t wait for tomorrow. I love you. Thank you for the amazing gift. I love it. I will come wearing it tomorrow just for you. I am really lucky to have someone like you in my life. Good night. Drive safe and give me a missed call when you reach home. Don’t forget it, else I will kill you. I get worried when you don’t. Love you.
Akash and Aleesha were not a couple in love, they loved each other and thus they were a couple. Together they had submerged themselves in the ocean of love. For a woman, the proof of love is that she is willing to be destroyed by the one whom she loves. And Aleesha was no different. Though she sometimes lost her temper and would take rash decisions which hurt her emotionally, she still loved Akash. It was not a love story to be remembered for ages like Romeo and Juliet’s, but was full of insecurities and possessiveness, and yet it was special in its own way.
It Started with a Friend Request Page 11